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A police chief and a manager at Action News received awards at the Jacksonville Bar Association luncheon Monday for their work during the Michael Dunn trial.

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Michelle Cook had to ensure the safety of the courthouse and the jurors involved in the first-degree murder trial of Dunn, said Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran.

Moran presented the awards to Cook and Action News’ Dave Wax at the bar association’s diversity luncheon. Moran commended Wax, the news operations and production manager at WTEV TV-47/WAWS TV-30, for leading a committee of local media that had to decide how to fit local and national reporters into the courtroom and a media overflow room.

About Wax’s job of leading reporters, Moran said, “people talk about herding cats, but it’s like herding snakes.”

“He had to make decisions that I’m sure some of his colleagues didn’t like,” Moran said in an interview, “but he was the man and he took charge.”

Cook, he said, had to oversee a policing operation that included undercover cops, secret driving routes for the jurors, and monitoring social media.

“I sat in on a few meetings,” Moran said. “It was like listening to the Secret Service.”

Moran told a reporter that he believes the Marissa Alexander case, which begins July 28 with jury selection, will be even bigger.